The Hand That Rocks
by evilton-chin
Summary: Luna unrolls a mystery, and must help Lincoln deal with a revelation, after he catches wind of a vile side of his hero.


_*Crash*_

Luna's ride came to a stop in front of the Loud house. Specifically, right in front of their knocked over trash can.

"Oops."

"Jeez, Chunk, where'd you learn how to drive?"

"Don't ask questions you don't want the answer to, lass."

Luna groaned. "Whatever. Thanks for the ride, anyway." She got off Chunk's pickup truck and took her guitar and equipment from the back, before sticking her head through the window one last time. "Just be more careful. You got a real treasure on board." She took the opportunity to wink at Sam on the back, who gave back an amused grin, accompanied a slight blush.

"Real smooth, kiddo" said Chunk, unimpressed with the young rocker's flirting.

"Alright, see ya, luvs!" Luna waved her friends goodbye. And with that, the truck went on its way.  
She really was grateful for the ride, and for Chunk being kind enough to offer his garage so she could jam a bit with her friends after school. They weren't allowed in the band room anymore since a rock 'n' roll concert reenactment got out of hand. And while she was used to rehearsing on her own garage by herself, she didn't think her mates would be able to handle the chaos of the Loud family.

But now she only hoped she could avoid getting in trouble for the trash can. She hurried to get it back up before her parents found out. But before she could lift it back up, she spotted a rolled sheet of paper sticking out of a big white plastic bag inside of the can.

Out of curiosity, she picked it up carefully – it was in the trash, after all – and unrolled it. It was a poster of a big muscular guy in red underwear, with a spade symbol on his chest and a blue cape, posing heroically. Oh, this is Ace Savvy, that superhero dude Lincoln loves so much, Luna thought. She unrolled it further, and at the bottom it had an autograph, which read "To My Biggest Fan, Lincoln Loud".

Wait, this was Lincoln's. Why was it in the trash?

Luna picked the rest of the bag out of the can to examine its content. It had Ace Savvy comic books, Ace Savvy dolls – or "action figures", as Lincoln would insist on calling them – Ace Savvy deck of cards, all that geeky paraphernalia Lincoln owned of the guy.

This caught Luna off guard by this. Who would throw her little brother's stuff in the garbage like that? Could it have been Mom or Dad, throwing it away by accident while cleaning? They knew how much he loved his stuff; he begged them for most of it. She picked the bag, along with her own equipment, and made her way to the house. Maybe her sisters would have a clue about this mystery.

Opening the front door, she saw nothing out of the ordinary. Of course, that means the usual noise. Lynn ran around the living room while holding a football and dodging imaginary tackles, Luna assumed. The twins were arguing and yelling at each other as usual for who knows what reason this time. Normally, Lori would be in charge of at least trying to control the sisters, but she currently seemed busy lying on the sofa talking on her phone, periodically yelling at their sisters when the noise overtook her focus on her phone call.

"Hey guys", called Luna, trying to get attention to herself. If anyone noticed her, she couldn't tell, as they continued what they were doing. "Guys", she repeated, louder this time, and yet again to no avail. With a sigh, she stuck her fingers in her mouth and whistled loudly enough to catch the attention of everyone. "Hey, guys", she repeated again, in her normal volume.

"Boo-boo bear, would you excuse me for one second?" said Lori to her phone. "Okay, thanks, be right back", she said sweetly, before turning an annoyed look at Luna. "What do you want?", she asked bitterly, covering her phone with her hand.

"I found something weird in the trash just now."

"You went through the trash?" said Lana, sounding hurt. "Why didn't you invite me?"

"I wasn't playing in the garbage, Lana."

"That is a sentence that needs to be said in this house", quipped Lola. "Do you ever think about that?"

"You're a jerk! You ever think about that?", responded Lana.

"That's enough, you two", said Lynn, separating the twins, who resigned themselves to showing their tongues to each other. "What did you find, Luna?"

Luna raised the bag in her hand to show it to her sisters. "It's Lincoln's Ace Savvy merch. It's all here in this bag. Someone threw it away'"

"How weird", said Lori, turning back to her phone and no longer paying them any mind. "Hey, Bobby, I'm back! No, it was just my sisters again."

Lynn rolled her eyes at their elder sister's dismissal. "Wait, why was it on the trash? He wouldn't just throw this all away. He loves his Ace Savvy stuff."

"No idea, I thought you guys would have a clue."

"Your guess is as good as mine", Lynn shrugged. "You don't think Mom or Dad threw it away while cleaning, do you?"

"After all the begging Lincoln did for them to buy all these things? I doubt it", added Lola, now curious about the riddle, mirroring all of their thoughts. "Besides, they've been out all day, and I didn't see that bag with them when they left."

Well, this was getting more mysterious by the minute.

"It could've been Luan."

Everyone yelped when Lucy once again appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, to comment on the issue.

After their hearts started beating normally again, they thought about what the little goth girl said.

"Why do you think that, Luce?"

"I do not know, she could be planning a prank. She is a devious mastermind of trickery whose limits we know not."

Lucy's dramatic demeanor aside, she could be on to something. Could this be another one of Luan's pranks? Because messing with something Lincoln was so passionate about like that was crossing the line, no matter how silly they admittedly thought his geeky stuff was.

"Well, in any case, I gotta leave my axe in our room. Is she home?"

"Yeah", said Lynn. "I just saw her upstairs telling jokes to Mr. Coconuts".

"Then I'll ask her myself." Luna then made her way upstairs, with the bag and her equipment.

"Good luck, Ace!", they all chanted jokingly.

She groaned, but didn't bother responding.

* * *

"And guess what the parrot was holding."

"The cigar?"

"No, the brick."

When Luna got to her room, there was Luan, sitting on the beanbag, laughing at her own joke with Mr. Coconuts on her lap. An odd punch line, but she reckoned it made sense in context.

Eventually, the young comedian noticed her sister on the room. "Oh hey, Luna, what's up?"

"Well, you tell me", Luna said, holding the bag of goods in front of her.

"What's that?" Luan asked, confused.

"It's Lincoln's Ace Savvy stuff; his comic books, his posters, his do– action figures, you name it", she described it. "I found this in the trash can just now."

"Huh, weird. Who threw it there?", Luan asked.

"Wait, you don't know?" It was Luna's turn to be confused.

"Why would I know?", she said, a little annoyed at her

"Well, I thought you'd done it" Luna told her roommate, now hesitant.

"What? Why would I do that?" Now Luan was somewhat irritated at the implied accusation.

"I dunno, I figured it was another one of your pranks."

"A prank has a point", explained Luan. "There needs to be a punch line, some kind of payoff, even if it's just a groan. I know how much Lincoln loves comics. Flat out throwing away stuff he loves so much would just be mean for no real reason."

Oh. Now Luna felt a little guilty for accusing her sister like this. She clearly knew how much these things meant for Lincoln. Even Luan wouldn't just purposely belittle the things they love, even Lincoln's geeky things.

"For instance", Luan continued, "a prank may come in some form of physical comedy. Like, say, a water balloon and flour falling on your older sister's head."

"That's oddly specifi–" was all she could say she before a balloon full of water fell on her head, followed by a packet of flour emptying on her, covering her head to toe with a gross paste.

"See? That's a prank. I could go on _flours_! Hahahaha, get it?"

"How are you so quick at setting these up?" asked Luna, wiping the wet flour out of her eyes.

"Sometimes I even amaze myself", the young comedian said, proud of herself.

Luna couldn't help but grin. "Well, I guess I deserved this one. Sorry for the accusation."

"It's all good, toots", said Mr. Coconuts as Luan barely moved her lips. Her spirits lifted thanks to her prank.

"But now I really have no idea how Lincoln's stuff got in the trash."

"Why don't you ask him?"

"Wait, he's home?"

"Yeah, I think I saw him get in his room about 15 minutes ago."

That sure surprised Luna. Surely he noticed all the stuff in his room was missing. Why was he not turning the house upside down looking for it? She needed to talk to him.

"But you might want to take a shower before getting there", Luan pointed out.

Luna looked at her current clothes. "… Yeah, good point", Luna agreed.

* * *

After showering and changing clothes, Luna crossed the hall and reached Lincoln's room. Not hearing any noise in his room, she knocked on his door.

"Yo, Linc. You there, bro?"

"O-oh, Luna? Hang on!"

She heard her little brother answer, followed by some rustling sounds and what she could've sworn was a deep breath. "Okay, come in."

Luna opened the door. Lincoln was just sitting on his bed, looking at her with a neutral expression. She examined his room quickly out of the corner of her eye. Yep, big empty spaces on the walls, where his Ace Savvy stuff used to be.

Lincoln clearly took notice of that. "Do you need anything?"

"What! Uh, yes! I mean, no! I mean…" Luna was caught off guard with his inquiry. "…Kinda?"

"Well, what is it?" asked Lincoln, a little impatiently.

"Well, I found this bag on the trash can. It has all of your Ace Savvy stuff. Someone may have thrown it away by mistake."

"Oh", Lincoln simply said, looking upset as he saw the bag.

That wasn't the reaction Luna expected. She thought he'd be jumping of joy for finding his lost things. He didn't even seem surprised at all. "Thanks, but it's okay. I threw this all out."

This afternoon was full of surprises.

"What? Why?"

"I… I just don't wanna have any Ace Savvy stuff anymore."

"But…you love Ace Savvy, don't you?"

Lincoln grimaced. "Not anymore."

Okay, something was definitely wrong, and he was clearly hiding what it was. "…What happened, Lincoln?"

"It's nothing."

"Dude, it's obvious it's not nothing."

Lincoln's sulking intensified. "I don't wanna show it to you."

"Show what?" She was getting somewhere. Lincoln didn't respond this time.

"Come on, bro, I can see something bothering you. It's not like you to do a 180 on comics like this, especially with this guy." Luna sat on his bed next to him, putting a hand on his shoulder. She was trying her best to understand what was bothering her little brother. "You can trust me. Maybe I can help."

Lincoln sighed resignedly, and picked his phone on his desk. He fiddled with it for a few seconds, and then showed it to Luna.

It was a news article. The title read:

 _Ace Savvy Creator Fired Over Accusations of Harassment_

"What?"

"Read it." Lincoln gave his phone to his sister so she could read the article.

 _Comic book writer Bill Buck, creator of the popular comic book series Ace Savvy, has been fired by CD Comics, in light of accusations of harassment from various women who worked with him in the past. Testimonies suggest that Buck would request lascivious favors in exchange for job opportunities, and threat them with contract termination if certain demands were not met._

Upon reading this, Luna covered her mouth with her hand, suddenly feeling sick to her stomach at what she read. She needed to look away from Lincoln's phone, and her line of sight moved to something that offered little comfort; her little brother's face, looking down to the ground, brows knit and tears clearly forming in his eyes.

"Oh, Lincoln" Luna lamented, hugging her little brother. She suddenly understood everything. "That's horrible. I'm sorry." Lincoln didn't hug her back.

"That is horrible." He said, dejected. "Who could even do something like this?"

Luna didn't know what to say next.

"I didn't want to believe it at first. There had to be a mistake, or a lie. I know you can't trust everything you see on the Internet." As he got more agitated, he backed off his sister's embrace. "But I checked the sources and everything. Some other big artists even confirmed it. It all checks out."

Luna took another look at the article on Lincoln's phone. It did look legit. She could definitely picture a big shot at such industries using their position of power like this. She's seen it firsthand many times with musicians she loved. That's why she understood how that affected her little brother. This was Finding-out-there's-no-Santa _times ten_.

Lincoln stood up from his bed. "How can a guy who writes about crime-fighting and justice do things like that? It's gross, isn't it? And the worst part is that I helped! I helped him be successful and get away with all of it!"

"Linc, don't you think that's a bit much?" Luna tried to reason with him. "You can't blame yourself for this. You didn't know about it."

"Well, now that I do, I won't be part of it anymore!" Lincoln then looked bitterly at the bag in the floor. "That's why I threw away all of that stuff."

"But bro", Luna sighed. "You were always crazy about Ace Savvy. Isn't he a hero to you?"

Lincoln looked with sad eyes at her sister. "Read the comments on the article."

Luna looked at the phone again and scrolled through the article until she reached the comment section.

 _Absolutely disgusting. Can't believe I let my kids read this._

 _Dude got what was coming to him. Good riddance._

 _The fans are seriously defending this sleazeball? How self-centered can they be?_

 _This comic has his hands all over it. It's best they just cancel it out of respect for his victims._

Luna sighed again. "Lincoln… people say dramatic stuff online like this without thinking. You can't take these comments at face value."

"But they're all right, aren't they?" A small tear started rolling out of his eyes. "He created Ace Savvy. How can I admire the work of such a disgusting person?" Out of frustration, Lincoln kicked the bag, spilling some comics, figures and cards all over his bedroom floor. "Serves me right for believing this superhero junk." Lincoln wiped the tears off his eyes. "Bunch of crap to take money from dumb little kids."

The scene broke Luna's heart. This affected him more than she'd realized. It's like he'd lost a real hero, which would seem silly to her, but she knew better than to look down on someone's passion. What are you supposed to do to help her little brother after he says such things?

She could do little but watch as he slowly picked the fallen things back from the floor, and put it back on the bag. "Sorry, it was something stupid", said Lincoln, completely devoid of energy. "I'll… I'll just put this all back in the trash can."

He reached for an open comic on the floor. Suddenly, an idea occurred to Luna.

"Hang on", she spoke at last. Lincoln stopped and looked at his sister.

"Do you have any correction tape or fluid on you?"

"Uh…" Lincoln took a moment to process such a weird request all of the sudden. "Yeah, I think I have a roller in my backpack. Why?"

"'Cause I want you to do something for me", Luna said with surprising determination in her eyes. "Can you get it?"

"Well… sure." Lincoln reached his backpack and pulled his correction roller out of it. Where was she going with this?

"Now pick an Ace Savvy comic from the bag. Any issue will do."

"Luna, why are you asking all that?" he asked, legitimately confused.

"Just trust me, okay? You'll see in a bit", the young rocker girl responded.

Lincoln couldn't make heads or tails of his sister's thoughts, but did as he was told and picket a random issue, the number 8 one, from the bag.

"Where do the credits for who works on those usually go?"

"Uh… usually in the first page, along with a summary of previous issues and the title of the current one."

"Right. Now I want you to open it on that page and cross out every mention of the guy's name."

"Ugh, Luna, crossing his name out won't magically change his involvement in it."

"Come on, dude, I'm going somewhere with this. Please, just do it."

Lincoln sighed, but complied. He sat at his desk and opened the issue at the first page. There was the summary of the story, with a list of characters involved in the current arc and, finally, the credits. Buck's name was the first one he saw, credited as the writer. It still hurt to be reminded of his influence, but he powered through and did as his sister told him to, crossing his name out with the tape.

Then he moved on to the next names. The penciler was someone else. He didn't know whether or not he had any involvement with the scandal, so he moved on. Then came other different names; the inker, colorist, editor, chief creative officer, executive producer, among others. Once he got to the end, he scanned the whole page again, searching for any other mention of Buck, but couldn't find it. He started to understand his sister's point.

"I'm done", said Lincoln.

"How many times did you cross out his name?" Luna asked behind him.

Lincoln didn't answer right away. He took another look at the whole page.

"Once."

"You see? He didn't make that comic on his own. And he certainly wasn't solely responsible for all of these." Lincoln could hear her raising the bag with all of his Ace Savvy merch.

Lincoln gave another long exhale. "Luna, I get what you mean, but it's not that simple. That was the creator of the series. He started it all. How am I supposed to admire his work now that I know what he did?"

"Lincoln, look at me."

He turned around his swivel chair, now facing his older sister, still sitting on his bed, with a sad but understanding look in her eyes.

"You may not believe it, but I know how you feel."

"Yeah, I doubt it", he said bitterly.

"Bro, do you know how many rock songs were written by people who did all sorts of bad stuff?"

Lincoln wasn't nearly as knowledgeable at music as Luna, but he's heard all sorts of songs thanks to her. And some of those songs could be pretty heavy with mentions of murder, sex, drugs and all sorts of illicit activities. "I dunno, a lot?"

"Tons. Some are my favorite songs, too", she said. "But be honest. Can you ever see me doing any of those things, or supporting them?"

Lincoln looked down to the ground. He didn't want to even think about his sisters being criminals. "No. I wouldn't admire you like I do if you were a bad person."

Luna smiled. "Thanks, I'm really happy to hear that. My little brother's approval is really important to me," she said as she ruffled Lincoln's white hair, earning a small smile from him, which was a small victory for Luna.

"What I mean is, things don't need to be attached to a singular person. We may laugh when you dress up in your silly costume, but that's just ribbing between siblings. We're actually really happy when you're playing or having fun with Clyde. That is all yours, and not anyone else's."

A genuine smile from her brother. You did it girl, she thought to herself

"Look, you have every right to be mad at the guy. To be perfectly honest, I'm kinda glad he got fired after what he did." It still hurt a little to hear that, but Lincoln agreed with her. "But that only means there are all of these other people to pick up where he left off no problem. Heck, you did it yourself once", Luna reminded him. "He may have been the start, but he doesn't need to be the end for you."

That seemed to do the trick, as Lincoln closed the comic on his desk with a big smile.

"So", Luna continued, "are you still gonna throw it all out?"

"Nah, I think I changed my mind", answered Lincoln. "But I'm not putting it all back up yet. Might wait how things play out."

Luna understood. "That's okay, luv. Do what you think is right. Just don't let others stop you from living your life."

"I think I can do that."

"Alright, I think my work here is done", Luna said, getting up from the bed "I better attend to my own business." And with that, she made her way out.

"Luna?"

"Yes?" she turned around, right before getting a big hug from her brother.

"Thank you."

She returned the hug. "Don't mention it. It's what I'm here for."

The siblings exchanged smiles before Lincoln returned to the bag to pick this things back out and Luna left his room. All in all, Luna played the big sister part impeccably.

Then she heard Dad's voice yell "WHO KNOCKED OVER THE TRASH CAN?", followed by Lola's "LUNA DID IT!"

Oh, bugger!

* * *

A one-shot obviously based on recent events regarding The Loud House. It has been years since my last fic, and I wish to touch the topic tastefully, so criticism is welcome.  
Edited for small tweaks and change of title from "Identity Crisis", 'cause I saw it was already taken.


End file.
